CSUB presents vegetation and climate change seminar

Global warming, climate change and the environment seems to be on everyone's mind these days. California State University, Bakersfield's School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics is hosting a seminar focusing on California's unique climate and how it has changed throughout the years. "The Late Quaterny Paleoecology of Southern California: Vegetation Change and Climate Dynamics" seminar will be held on Wednesday, March 11, at 4 p.m. in Science III, room 108.

Peter E. Wigand, a CSUB researcher, studies vegetation history, fire history and climates in different regions throughout the world. He will present plant history research, conducted throughout the state, that reveals the remarkable nature of California's climate and how it has evolved over thousands of years.

"California has all kinds of climates and is extremely complex. From the vegetation samples we've studied, we have been able to reconstruct California's climate history," Wigand said. "We know from those studies that today's climate has been going on for thousands of years but historically it has not always been this way."

Wigand's appearance is part of a lecture series funded by a National Science Foundation grant. For more information, contact Thomas Meyer (661) 654-2104.